


lover don't fade away

by softazelma



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, First Kiss, Florida, Fluff, I Just Really Love Journey You Guys, Meeting the Parents, Mild Angst, Road Trips, Self-Indulgent and Terrible, Shitty Cars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 12:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18011105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softazelma/pseuds/softazelma
Summary: "The car rumbled beneath Caleb’s feet, purring like a very happy cat. That was part of why he loved it so much, shitty and old as it was. The cassette in the tape deck went crackly again, and he absentmindedly rapped on the face with a knuckle to shake it back in place."Just a bit of road-trip fluff. Title taken from the song "Why Can't This Night Go On Forever," by Journey.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all. This is quite probably the most terrible self-indulgent fic I've ever written, and that's including when I was 13 and wrote 11th Doctor/Self-Insert OC fanfiction. This fic is dedicated to the Widojest server -- I love you guys! Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

The car rumbled beneath Caleb’s feet, purring like a very happy cat. That was part of why he loved it so much, shitty and old as it was. The cassette in the tape deck went crackly again, and he absentmindedly rapped on the face with a knuckle to shake it back in place.

Driving on these empty roads was something he had always found solace in, growing up. On his left was green and flat, and on the other side greener and flatter, dotted with a few trees in the distance. The light of the slowly setting sun washed it all in gold and warmth. He looked over to his right, where Jester sat, her bare feet on the dash, toenails painted pink and blue. She stared out the window intently, taking in the vast green of north Florida. Frumpkin slept in her lap, curled up like a donut, and Sprinkle lay across him; Nugget had been banished to the back seat, where he was sitting contentedly, gnawing at a chew toy.

Caleb felt a smile creep onto his face. She was so beautiful, all legs and freckles and blue hair. She’d only packed shorts and tank tops – “It’s Florida, how cold can it be?” – so when it got cool in the early-January evenings, he’d lend her one of his flannel button-downs. They were far too big for her, but it was still one hell of a trip, seeing her in his clothes.

Suddenly, she straightened up and leaned closer to the window. “Look, Caleb! Horses!”

They were coming up on a farm, it seemed. The fence was only four, maybe five yards from the road, and there were a few horses hanging out nearby. “Yes, those are horses,” he teased, a dry smile on his face. “You have seen horses before, right?”

“Oh, shut up,” she replied, blindly swatting at his arm. “I didn’t know there were horses in Florida! I thought it was just Disney and beaches and stuff.”

“That’s central Florida. Up here, it’s all horses and cows and small towns where everyone knows each other a little too well.” He forced himself to look at the road ahead of him.

“Sounds friendly.” They left the horse farm behind them, and Jester sighed. The song playing faded out, and after a moment, the next one began. “I love this album. It’s so sweet.”

“It was one of my favorites, when I was little.” He glanced at her in the corner of his eye. “My mom would play Journey around the house while we did chores. It – it was nice. When I went off to college and got this shitty old car,” he gently smacked the wheel, “she got out her old cassette tapes and gave them to me.”

“That was really sweet of her. She had very good taste in music.” Jester looked over at him – he could feel her eyes scanning his face, searching for that old hurt he carried with him.

“Yes, she did.” He smiled and reached over to gently scratch Frumpkin’s cheek. “Thank you, by the way.”

“For what?”

“For coming back down here with me.” The sun was starting to get low on the horizon, giving its last few bursts of heat and light before sinking into the sea for the night. “I haven’t been back in…god, it’s been so long. Mostly because it’s hard, coming back. But I’m glad you’re here with me. Makes it easier.”

“Of course. I’ve wanted to see where you grew up for a while.” She paused, and gave him a soft smile – he only caught it in the corner of his eye, but with the setting sun behind her, it took his breath away. “Plus, you’ve met my mama. Now it’s my turn to meet yours.”

Caleb took a breath in, then let it out. “I’m sure she’ll love you, Blueberry. Who wouldn’t?”

She knew, of course. He’d been hesitant to tell her at first, but she asked about his parents, and he couldn’t bring himself to lie to her. She knew that the only place they’d be going in Ocala was a cemetery. The sun finally dipped below the horizon, and the sky above the roof of Caleb’s shitty old SUV slowly, gradually, faded into the inky black of night. A few stars started peeking out from the black – then a few more, slowly growing in number as the moon rose in the sky. The song playing on the tape deck crackled out its last notes, and then the next song began, a few notes on a piano.

 _“Lost in twilight, the memories…”_ Caleb smiled a little to himself. The vast expanse of rural north Florida spread out on either side of the car, the occasional copse of trees flying past, grass littered with little yellow and white wildflowers. Only the road ahead of them. Despite himself, he started to hum along, soft and halting. _“Precious moments, you and me.”_

His heart was in his throat as he looked over at Jester, awash in the silvery glow of the almost-full moon – and she was looking at him, too, her periwinkle-blue eyes wide and sparkling. She was…

“This is a pretty song,” she said, her voice so soft.  

The song continued to pour out of the speakers. _“We’ve been old friends, all though the years, picture postcards, sharing tears…”_

…breathtaking. “Yeah, it is.” Sprinkle awoke from his nap, stretching on Jester’s lap. Oh god, there she was, holding Frumpkin in her lap, his worn red flannel hanging off her shoulders. He swallowed his heart and pulled the car over on the side of the road.

“Caleb. Are you okay?” She took her feet off the dashboard, startling Frumpkin out of his little nap. He stretched and hopped into the backseat, joining Nugget.

He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. “Jester, I…” His voice caught in his throat, and the song continued in the background, but he wasn’t listening anymore – no, he was just staring, enraptured. A single trembling hand found its way to hers, and it rested there, fingers curling around her hand.

“Caleb…” And she lifted her other hand to his cheek. He hadn’t noticed it until just then, but they’d been slowly leaning in to each other, like the north and south poles of a magnet. Her wide blue eyes were just inches away from his –

And then, suddenly, she closed her eyes and pulled him into a kiss.

It’s strange, to kiss someone you’ve only ever dreamed of kissing. It was like all he could feel were her lips against his and her hand on his cheek – and he was caught by surprise, spent one long moment processing those lips and that hand before tilting his head to one side and leaning into the kiss. His hands found their home on her hips, one skirting its way to her waist, reveling in the softness of her skin. She ran her fingernails down his jawline and up into the hair at the nape of his neck, scratching gently. Their lips moved with each other, teeth knocking a few times – it was all rather new, but Caleb was so eager to explore every inch of Jester, to memorize her and know her by heart.

Her other hand found its way over his shoulder, and he pulled her closer, wanting – almost needing – to feel her there, to smell her conditioner and the last remnants of the perfume she’d put on that morning. God, why had it taken so long for them to finally do this? He ran his fingers through her box-dyed blue hair, vibrant and messy, soft to the touch. She hummed under her breath and tangled her fingers even tighter in his hair.

The song continued to play, sweet and slow, but the only thing on Caleb’s mind was Jester, her breath on his tongue and her skin beneath his hands. Slowly, it came to a close, and the car was silent – except for the sounds of breathing, and the pounding of Caleb’s heart against his ribs. Then a loud crackling sound burst from the car speakers, and Jester practically jumped a foot in the air.

“Shit, shit, I’m so sorry, the stupid tape is turning over, and the tape deck likes to be an asshole sometimes—”

Jester giggled and leaned her head on his shoulder as he jumped to take the tape out of the player and put it back into the case. “Yeah, it does seem like kind of an asshole.”

He gave her a sidelong glance and a wry smile. “Do you want to listen to something else until we make it to the next town?”

She seemed to think about it for a moment, but he could tell she was just playing with him. “No, I like this one.”

“Alright.” He fiddled with the tape a bit before turning it around and sticking it back into the tape deck. As he pulled back onto the road, he took Jester’s hand in his, tangled their fingers together, and held tight. She held on right back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There might be more of this in store -- I've got some ideas, but I'm also pretty busy. Comments are appreciated! Love you guys!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told y'all there was more in store! Again, dedicated to the widojest discord server. I love you guys :)

They arrived in Ocala a few days later, around ten in the morning. Jester was fascinated with the whole place – it was so quaint and small, and everything looked so old. There was grass everywhere! They drove through the center of town, and passed by so many horse statues, painted with beautiful images of flowers, flags, buildings, and all sorts of people.

“Yeah, they’ve been around since I was a kid. Local companies sponsor them, and then they get auctioned off, and half the money goes to charity. Celebrating our heritage and all that, you know?” Caleb said after Jester eagerly pointed them out.

“That’s so cool.” She leaned her forehead against the window, watching old-fashioned buildings go by. The car was quiet, for a moment, before Jester’s stomach made some very loud grumbling noises. “Could we stop somewhere and get breakfast? I’m starving.”

“Of course. Let me just… orient myself. It’s been a while since I’ve been here.” He continued driving along, scanning street corners, before sighing, “Ah, now I remember,” and turning at the next light. A few minutes later, they arrived at Scrambles Café. It was a quaint little place, off to one corner in a small shopping plaza. There was a sort of small-town quality about the place that Jester was instantly charmed by – boring beige walls and gray booths, but the waitresses were friendly and gave Jester and Caleb wide smiles as they walked through the front door. “Just us two,” said Caleb.

“Sit wherever you’d like, and one of us will be right with you,” the hostess – a tall blonde woman with bright eyes – said.

Jester pulled Caleb over to a booth near the front, right next to the front windows. “This place is so cute – the whole town is just so small and friendly!”

He smiled and let out a little chuckle. “It really isn’t so small, Blueberry. But yeah, it’s a nice place.” He looked out the window. “It’s good to be home.”

She reached out a hand and laced her fingers through his – not saying anything, just holding on. His hands were always so warm, and hers were always cold. They balanced each other out pretty nicely.

The other waitress – the freckle-faced brunette – came up to the booth with menus in hand and a pencil stuck through her bun. “Hi, I’m Grace, and I’ll be helping you out today. Do you already know what you want to drink, or should I give you a minute?”

“One black coffee, please.” Caleb gave her a polite nod, then looked to Jester.

“And I’ll get a glass of milk.”

Grace nodded and jotted their drinks down on her notepad with the pencil stuck in her hair. “I’ll get those right out for you folks!” Then she stuck the pencil back into her bun and walked back into the kitchen.

“So, Caleb,” Jester began. “Is your old house still around? Like, did they rebuild it, after – after the fire?”

He took a breath in, then let it out. “I don’t know. I came back for the funeral, but I didn’t stick around too long after that. Just went straight back to college.” He shrugged. “I don’t really want to go back, though. I mean – I sort of do, but I also don’t want to ruin all my memories of home, you know? Like when you have a place in your memory, and it’s so perfect and wonderful, but you go back and it’s totally different and now you don’t see it the same way at all.”

“I get what you mean. I remember going back to my old dance studio a few years ago, when I heard it was going out of business. It was so different.” She gave him a small smile. “We don’t have to go back if you don’t want to – I’m just curious, that’s all.”

“Thank you, Jester.” And he gave her hand a squeeze.

Grace brought out their drinks and took their breakfast orders. Jester and Caleb sat in the quiet café, talking about nothing important until their food came out. It was really good – Caleb gave her a taste of his grits, and while they weren’t her favorite, she was surprised by how good they were. She drowned her blueberry pancakes in syrup and declared that they were the best damn pancakes she’d ever eaten, much to Caleb’s amusement. Grace brought their check, and Caleb grabbed it before Jester could say anything.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” She grabbed for it, but he held it over his head. “You paid for breakfast yesterday, I won’t let you pay for my food again!”

“Ah, but I have longer arms, Blueberry. It’s my treat.” Still holding it above his head with one hand, he pulled his wallet out of his pocket with the other, and – with much fumbling, since it’s rather difficult to open a wallet one-handed – slid his card into the check folder and handed it to Grace. “Thank you.”

The waitress gave Caleb a smile that put dimples into her freckled cheeks. “Of course. You two are just adorable.” She put the check into a pocket in her little apron, carefully keeping it out of Jester’s reach – much to her frustration. “I’ll get this right back out for you.”

Jester looked back over to Caleb and noticed a bright-red blush creeping onto his face. She smiled coyly and leaned towards him over the table. “She thinks we’re cute, Caleb.”

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, she does.” And he gave her an awkward little smile. “We are pretty cute, aren’t we?”

“Oh, fuck yeah!” Jester blurted out, then cringed and ducked her head as she realized that she was cursing a little too loud in a public area. “I mean, heck yeah!”

Caleb snorted, and his smile broadened into something softer and sweeter.

Grace brought the check folder back out and set it on the table with a big smile. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” He opened it to take his card back out, wrote out a generous tip on the receipt, and handed it back to Grace.

“Alright, great. Y’all have a nice day!”

Caleb gave her a nod and a wave on their way out the door.

Even though it had been years since he’d been home, Caleb had no problems finding the cemetery. It was small, and the name had long since worn off the gate, but the grass was soft and green, and a few little wildflowers were starting to peek back out from the ground. They left the animals in the car, with the windows open and plenty of treats left on the seats. Jester wanted to bring Sprinkle and Nugget along, but Caleb said that he didn’t think the caretakers would appreciate two mischievous animals making a ruckus amongst the graves.

His parents’ plot was a ways back, near a handful of tall pine trees that littered the ground beneath their branches with pine cones and evergreen needles. The pair of plain gray headstones had seen some weather, and their names had worn away somewhat, but Jester could still make out the inscriptions: Una Widogast-Ermendrud on the first, and Leofric Ermendrud on the second. Caleb laid an old blanket on the ground, and he and Jester sat on it, in front of the headstones.

“I didn’t know that Widogast was your mother’s maiden name,” said Jester, breaking the silence.

“The fire was on all the news stations for months. I wanted people to stop giving me condolences when they heard my name, so, you know. I changed it.” He shrugged, and scooted a bit closer to her.

There was a long pause – not quite awkward, but not comfortable either – as they both contemplated what to say next.

“So, Mom, Dad, I have someone for you to meet. Her name is Jester, and she’s the most wonderful woman I’ve ever had the sheer luck of meeting.” He shot her a small smile. “I don’t know if you can see her, being six feet under, but she’s beautiful. Bright blue hair and dark blue eyes. All freckles and smiles. Just being with her makes me happy, and I’m eternally grateful to count her as a friend. I truly hope that she feels even half as happy as I do, to have brought her here.”

“Caleb, you’re such a flatterer,” Jester giggled. “Of course I’m happy you brought me here.” Then she shifted her focus to the slate-gray headstones. “Your son is the picture of a perfect gentleman. Without him and our group of friends, I’d have been completely alone. You see, I’m studying art in New York. I know it’s ambitious, but I think I’m pretty good, you know? So why not? But I had to move away from my mama, and everyone I’d ever known. I had one friend – his name is Fjord – but it was still so scary, being without my mama for the first time.” She laughed uncomfortably. “God, I must sound like such a baby.”

“No, of course you don’t,” replied Caleb. And he took her hand in his. “Missing your mama doesn’t make you a baby. It makes you human.”

She gave him a soft smile, a small thank-you, but then that smile turned devious. “Anyway, I think we should tell them how we met, don’t you, Caleb?”

“Oh no, I think they’re fine without knowing that story—”

“—Well, you see,” she butted in, her smile growing by the minute, “I was at Starbucks, getting my usual drink—”

“—Which, by the way, is one of those silly Frappuccinos with absolutely no coffee of any kind in them, just pure frozen sugar—”

“—well, it’s delicious! And beside the point!” Jester couldn’t help but giggle. “Anyway, the barista had just handed it to me when Caleb burst in the back door, by the end of the counter where they give you your drink, and he had his nose stuck in this huge book written in German, so I guess he didn’t see me there, and he ran right into me! I got caramel Frappuccino all over my favorite pink dress!”

Caleb paused. “It was actually pretty funny, in hindsight.” Jester could tell he was trying to stifle a giggle. “Plus, you’re very short. Of course I didn’t see you.”

“Hey!” She shoved him hard in the shoulder, and he fell right over on his side, as if he had no muscles in his entire body. “Oh shit, are you okay?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” he said between gasps of laughter. “Oh, Jester. You really are something.”

The smile on her face grew even wider, and she felt her cheeks grow a little warm. “Anyway, he was very startled, and gave me the most thorough apology I’ve ever received, and then insisted on buying me a new one. And then we ended up sharing a table and talking. I did this sketch of him.” She shuffled around in her backpack, looking for her sketchbook. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “He’s very handsome. You did a good job.”

“Yes, well, I’m sure they’re very proud.” The words left Caleb’s lips without a second thought, but once they’d hung in the air for a moment, he stopped dead. “I hope they are,” he murmured.

“If they aren’t, then I’ll just have to kick their asses from beyond the grave,” said Jester.

Caleb smiled. “Thank you. Please don’t kick my parents’ asses.”

“No promises.” And she smiled back. “Wait, here’s the sketch.”

She turned the sketchbook around to face the headstones, as if they could see the sketch through the engraved letters. It was pretty simple – just a doodle of Caleb, a hot coffee in one hand while the other skimmed the pages of a truly massive tome. “See? He’s very handsome.”

Caleb snorted and looked away. “Anyway, mom and dad. I know I’ve been away a long time, so I wanted to update you, I suppose. I, uh, I changed my major from physics to English. Specifically, American literature. I’m a TA, now, and I hope to get hired on as a professor soon.” He sighed. “I know you were so excited when I was accepted into the physics program at Cornell, but…it just wasn’t working out. The, uh. The head of the program was…kind of awful. And it made all of us in the program awful too. And I hated that. So I dropped out, and then I ended up spending a lot of time at the library nearby. That’s where I met Beauregard, one of our best friends. She’s a librarian and also a total badass.”

“Some guy once hit on me when the three of us went out one night, and she turned around and broke his nose.” Jester nodded with faux reverence. “I have a newfound respect for librarians.”

He pressed a kiss to Jester’s temple. “I would have done the same, except for the fact that I am absolutely certain that I would have broken every bone in my hand. And then, he would have picked me up and snapped me in half, like a toothpick.”

She smiled and leaned against his shoulder. “It’s the thought that counts.”

“Beau convinced me to go back to school, study something else that interested me. And that’s how I ended up meeting Jester here,” and he put an arm around her waist. “Then, through her, I met Fjord. And I met Veth as well – we call her Nott, because she insists that she’s everyone’s mom, and, well, she’s not – she’s going back to school, now that her son is in elementary school. And Beauregard introduced me to Mollymauk, the most flamboyant peacock of a person I’ve ever met. And he introduced us to Yasha, with whom Beau is absolutely infatuated. And recently, we’ve brought another person into our little friend group. His name is Caduceus, and he makes the best damn tea I’ve ever had in my life. No offense meant, Dad,” he added. “When you… when you died, I thought my life was over. That nothing else was going to matter. And even though I’ll miss you both for the rest of my life, I’ve made a new family.” He looked right into Jester’s eyes. “And I love them.”

She swallowed. “We love you too, Caleb.” And she cupped his cheek in her hand. “You’re one of the best friends I’ve ever had. Seriously, I meant it when I said that having you in my life has made me the happiest I think I’ve ever been. My mama loves you to pieces, and she’s the most nitpicky and overprotective mama in the whole world. I used to have a crush on Fjord, back in high school, and when she found out that he was being kind of a dick about it – I mean, we were, like, fifteen, so it’s totally understandable and also it’s been so long that it doesn’t really matter anymore – she caught him after one of his swim meets and gave him such a stern talking-to that the next time I saw him, he was terrified. I mean, he apologized, but still! I was expecting Mama to tear you to shreds, but she was so nice!”

“Your mama really is a wonderful woman.” He turned back to the headstones. “When Jester went back home for the winter holidays, she insisted that any of us who didn’t have family to stay with – which was a lot of us, incidentally – had to go back home with her. It was very nice.” Then, to Jester, “I think I saw Fjord squirm a bit whenever your mama talked to him. Now I know why.”

“She just likes messing with him. Did you know that when we were kids, we decided to make homemade lemonade? And Fjord insisted that he knew exactly what he was doing, you know, it was exactly like making orange juice –”

“—oh no –”

“—and so, he didn’t put any water in it! It was just lemon juice and not-quite-dissolved sugar!” She couldn’t help but laugh at the memory. “It was disgusting! Mama came in and tried it – not knowing how completely we’d fucked it up – and the look on her face! It was priceless!”

“Oh my goodness,” Caleb said in between laughs. “Is that why she insisted on giving us lemonade?”

“Yes!” And Jester fell back, her head in the grass. “Ah, I love my mama. She’s the best.”

“She really is.” He joined her on the ground. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I am so glad that you came back home with me.”

“I am too.”

According to Caleb, his parents were never fond of store-bought flowers, so he and Jester walked around in the grass picking wildflowers to leave on his parents’ headstones. Flowers were few and far between, but after a bit of searching, they managed to pick a handful or so. After saying a few more words, they folded up the blanket and went back to the car, ready to go back to their new little family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ocala is a real town in north Florida. Those horse statues are a real thing -- you should look them up, they're all super cool! Also, Scrambles Cafe is a real restaurant. I have never been there. For that matter, I haven't been to Ocala since I was 14. A lot of artistic license was taken, please be gentle. (Also, grits are delicious and y'all can fight me on that.)
> 
> Comments are appreciated! Love you guys!

**Author's Note:**

> There might be more of this in store -- I've got some ideas, but I'm also pretty busy. Comments are appreciated! Love you guys!


End file.
